LaPlace water plant back in business after supply line repaired

A break in a water line between St. John the Baptist Parish's well in Ruddock and its water treatment plant in LaPlace has been repaired. Parish officials say it is safe for LaPlace residents to resume normal water use, after asking them to conserve for several hours Tuesday.

Matt Scallan, The Times-PicayuneBoh Brothers crane operator Ryan Williams clears debris after repairs to a water line north of LaPlace in St. John the Baptist Parish.

The break cut off the LaPlace plant's water supply, causing the plant on Woodland Drive to shut down and rely on 3 million gallons of water stored in tanks and towers.

Repairs were completed in about three hours and the plant is operating normally again, parish officials said.

Parish officials sent out alerts at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, asking residents in LaPlace to conserve water, and to refrain from heavy uses such as washing clothes or running dishwashers until the raw water line was deemed fit for use.

The break, caused by a corroded coupling in the pipe, occurred about a half-mile north of Interstate 55, a swampy area near Freniere.

"These types of problems are inevitable with a system that depends on a water source more than eight miles from the treatment facility," Parish President Natalie Robottom said in a written statement. "Fortunately, the Director of Utilities, Virgil Rayneri, and his staff have made upgrades and improvements to the water systems that allow for redundancy across systems."

The parish was able to maintain normal water pressure during the outage because the parish has 3 million gallons of water storage capacity, and as well as the ability to tap into the Lions Water Plant in Reserve.

The LaPlace plant, located on Woodland Drive, generates 4.5 million gallons per day of water.

LaPlace residents last had water problems in 2010, when part of the plant's reverse osmosis filtration system failed, and in 2009, after a break in the LaPlace-Ruddock pipeline.

Matt Scallan, The Times-PicayuneTaiwan Berryhill of Boh Brothers Construction helps move a segment of water line onto a truck to be taken back to the St. John the Baptist Parish Water Department yard

Since then, parish officials have improved the connectivity between the Reserve and LaPlace plants, and are working on a cross-river pipeline to enable the Edgard plant to supply the parish's east bank customers with its 400,000 gallon per day surplus capacity, as well as the ability to send water to the west bank should the need arise.